Geneva aims for 3rd straight sectional title
With all due respect to both St. Charles girls basketball programs — and they both deserve it after pushing Geneva into the third and fourth quarters in regional play last week — the Vikings will see a new level of play beginning tonight at the Class 4A Jacobs sectional.
That’s not surprising, obviously. As a team advances in the state tournament the competition is supposed to get harder. But the records between regional and sectional foes are an even greater contrast this year than the past couple.
St. Charles East and St. Charles North, the two teams Geneva beat to win the SCE regional last week, finished a combined 26-33. Rockton Hononegah and Cary-Grove, the two teams the Vikings could have to go through this week if they want to win a third straight sectional, are a combined 54-6.
Is 23-6 Geneva up to the task? The Vikings certainly played a schedule this year to prepare for it.
The Vikings also are playing their basketball with a season-high 8-game winning streak entering tonight’s 8:10 p.m. game against Hononegah. That follows the first semifinal between Cary-Grove and Huntley (20-8). Geneva has won sectional titles the past two years at Lake Park and Huntley.
St. Charles North coach Colleen Brennan knows both teams after playing in the same Dundee-Crown Christmas tournament as Rockton Hononegah. She’ll also be at the sectional Tuesday watching her senior Sydney Russell in the 3-point contest.
“We’re excited to go watch that game,” Brennan said. “Their game (Geneva’s) is pushing the ball and athleticism. They communicate so unbelievable on the court and that is from playing together a long amount of time. You can’t scout that. They get in a groove and it’s just dominoes. It’s not fun being the other team but it’s exciting to watch.”
The Vikings’ last loss came 61-44 to Fenwick on Jan. 25.
Geneva played that game without junior Ashley Santos who was out sick from school that day and the previous day. Fenwick hurt Geneva inside with 6-3 Hannah Ballard who scored a game-high 18 points.
Rockton Hononegah (28-3), who advanced to the sectional with a 71-68 win over Rockford Auburn, features 6-4 Nicole Smith. But the Wisconsin-bound junior has missed 8 games this year with an ankle injury including last week’s regional and Hononegah coach Randy Weibel calls her doubtful for Tuesday.
In addition to Santos, who leads Geneva in rebounding at 5.7 a game, Geneva will need its front court rotation of Katelyn Allen, Kelsey Pease, Brooke Binette and Sami Pawlak to provide a similar lift as they did in Thursday’s 52-31 win over St. Charles North when Binette grabbed 10 rebounds off the bench, Pease started the game with a blocked shot and 2 steals in the first three minutes and Allen finished with 7 points and 8 rebounds.
“We’re ready for any challenge,” Binette said. “We just have to play tough defense and help side. We’re really athletic and we try really hard to box out and push it up the court because we know our strength is running and pushing the ball up instead of paying actual half court defense.”
Geneva coach Gina Nolan pointed to the experience of playing Fenwick as something that can help Tuesday if Smith does indeed play. And Nolan knows the Vikings can’t devote all their attention inside because Hononegah has 3-point shooters that can also hurt Geneva.
“Hopefully being athletic and bother guards, we can contest,” Nolan said. “We’ll be prepared and ready to go. We’ll have to be out on their shooters. They have some great outside shooters. We’ll have our work cut out for us but it is a great opportunity to be there.”
In addition to Smith (8.4 points per game), Rockton has All-State guard Brea Edwards, a transfer from Rockford Boylan who Geneva beat 62-48 in last year’s sectional championship game. Edwards scored 25 points that night, and she has been on fire in the tournament this year with 28 and 29 points in the team’s two regional wins.
Edwards is averaging 25.7 points per game. Senior guard Kat Yelle leads Geneva at 17.6 points per game, plus a team-high 3.4 steals and 2.9 assists. Sammy Scofield averages 1.7 steals and 3.7 assists while Santos checks in at 3.2 steals, making up the pressure defense that concerns Weibel.
“Handling their pressure defense and their transition offense is our worry,” Weibel said. “They push the ball as well as anybody we’ve played all year and what they also do well is attack the offensive boards. If we don’t rebound it will be a long night.”